Ghost

Great Stair Hall Balcony, third floor

Main Building

Ghost

1964

Alexander Calder (American, 1898–1976)

Alexander Calder produced his first moving sculptures, which Marcel Duchamp dubbed “mobiles,” in the early 1930s. Using cutout shapes reminiscent of natural forms (birds, fish, falling leaves), Calder created floating three-dimensional worlds in constant flux. The large mobile Ghost installed in the Museum's Great Stair Hall was created to hang in the center of the Guggenheim Museum in New York for Calder’s exhibition there in 1964.

Born in Philadelphia, Calder was third in a line of distinguished sculptors from this city. The Swann Fountain in Logan Circle was created in 1924 by his father, Alexander Stirling Calder (1870–1945). On top of City Hall is the thirty-six-foot-high statue of William Penn by Calder’s grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder (1846–1923), who also designed all the stone sculptural ornament for the City Hall building.

Great Stair Hall Balcony, third floor

Object Details

Title:

Ghost

Date:

1964

Artist:

Alexander Calder (American, 1898–1976)

Medium:

Metal rods, painted sheet metal

Dimensions:

Length: 34 feet (1036.3 cm) Weight: 225lb. (102.06 kg)

Classification:

Sculpture

Credit Line:

Purchased with the New Members Fund, 1965

Accession Number:

1965-47-1

Geography:

Made in United States, North and Central America

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Great Stair Hall Balcony, third floor

Main Building

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